BALE TO PARKER ON BRITISH HISTORICAL TEXTS IN CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE LIBRARIES

A letter which John Bale (1495-1563) sent to Matthew Parker (1504 -75) in 1560 in reply to an enquiry from the archbishop about 'bokes of an ti qui te, not printed' is less well known than it might be.1 It was published obscurely, except for a Cambridge audience by H. R. Luard more than a century ago.2 Its detailed evidence has rarely been taken into account: R. L. Poole and M. Bateson,3 N. R. Ker in his Medieval libraries of Great Britain* C. Brett and J. P. Carley,5 have surprisingly all given it less than its due. Indeed, even Honor McCusker,6 who in 1942 reprinted much of the text in her John Bale, dramatist and antiquary,7 used it merely to show Bale's relationship with Parker: there is little sign of her interest in identifying the books listed in the letter.